Wandering out of Istanbul

Last weekend, I went to Bulgaria and Romania for the weekend. I mean, why not? For just about $80 you can get a rail pass that gives you five days of travel in the Balkans. So me and two other exchangers packed up our backpacks and hopped on an overnight train to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. To be honest, I was really looking forward to the Romania part of the trip and considered the one night we were planning on spending in Bulgaria as a quick sidenote to the journey. Unexpectedly, through a misinformed hostel manager and our own lack of planning, it was difficult to get out of Bulgaria. By the end of the trip, we'd become convinced that perhaps a there'd been some sort of enchantment placed on us to keep us out of Romania and as far away from Dracula as possible.
However, Bulgaria, or at the two towns we visited were a real treat. I was expecting the country to be one big, post-Soviet concrete wasteland. Instead, we discovered beautiful countryside, historic and artistic centers, delicious food, and really really nice people. Our first stop was Plovdiv. The blast of cold air and concrete train station didn't exactly give me a good first impressions, but after getting directions, we headed to the historic old town to find our hostel. The historic center of Plovdiv consists of narrow, winding cobblestone streets, lovely wooden houses, art galleries, antique shops, and is dotted with old churches and and a few Roman ruins including an amphitheater. We spent our time in Plovdiv exploring the old town, shopping for lovely glazed pottery, and feasting on delicious meals cooked in earthenware pots. It also didn't take us long to discover that beer in Bulgaria is cheaper than water.
The next day when we inquired about train times to Bucharest, our host informed us that we'd have to wait until the next day to get out of Bulgaria and that the only way to catch the train was to take a bus three hours away to a small town and get the train from there. Lucky for us, he knew a sister hostel there and would be happy to make reservations for us. We consented and few hours later, we found ourselves on a stomach-curdling ride through precarious mountain roads. More than once I though our driver was going to plunge our minibus into the depths. To our frustration, upon arrival we discovered that there was an overnight train to Bucharest, which we decided we would try to make, but our new hosts persuaded us that we would miss the best Bulgarian town if we left. We stayed. The town was lovely and the old fortress was impressive, but the overpriced tour of surrounding sites we were coerced into taking wasn't so impressive. Let's just that it was a relief when were finally waiting for our train to Romania that evening. However, we met with near disaster when we got on the wrong train. We didn't realize until after the train had left the station that we were being transported back to Plovdiv! At this point, I was ready to leap of the moving train to avoid being trapped in Bulgaria for one more night. This wasn't necessary though, because for some reason the train reversed direction and let us off at the station and we managed to get on the right train.
Romania was rushed and were disappointed time and time again by castles, museums, and churches being closed for various reasons. We didn't even get to visit Dracula's castle or Ceauşescu's grave. Our hostel was called the Funky Chicken but should have been called the Grumpy Chicken in reference the manager who didn't even say goodbye to us when we left. Not say Romania didn't have potential. I'd really like to go someday and explore Transylvania which seemed lovely judging by the one afternoon we spent in Braşov and Bran. To cap off the trip, we made our train back to Istanbul by literally 30 seconds.
So I've learned this past weekend that I really should be a little more organized when I travel, that I should enjoy where I am and not rush ahead to the next destination, and when in doubt of what to cook it's always a good idea to throw some veggies and cheese in a clay pot and bake. Also, next time you're in Veliko Tarnova buy some art from the friendly, bearded old man who sits by the old fortress making pen and ink drawings